Memorials for Pretti and Good receive “I Voted” stickers in Minneapolis

Federal law-enforcement officials had not been spotted near voting sites as of the Guardian’s report

Minnesota voters left “I Voted” stickers at memorial sites for Alex Pretti and Renee Nicole Good on Nov. 3, two U.S. citizens killed by federal immigration officials earlier in 2026. The stickers connected an election-day action with those deaths. As of the Guardian’s report, no federal law-enforcement officials had been spotted near voting sites, despite threats by the Trump administration of deploying them to voting sites.

The two memorials marked people killed during a large-scale immigration enforcement operation in the Minneapolis region in January. Pretti, 37, was an intensive care unit nurse at the Veterans Affairs medical center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Good was a writer and mother of three. The Guardian reported that Pretti was shot by ICE agents on Jan. 24 during Operation Metro Surge, which the outlet described as a large-scale federal immigration enforcement operation.

At the end of 2025 and in early 2026, Minnesota became a central target for the Trump administration. Federal immigration officials carried out Operation Metro Surge in the Minneapolis area. Community groups organized rapid-response teams throughout the city to prevent officials from arresting immigrants, and the situation escalated after Good and Pretti were killed.

Many of the groups involved in that rapid-response work have since shifted their attention to elections. Minnesota voters are choosing a Senate candidate and governor, as well as House candidates. The Guardian reported that the administration’s immigration-enforcement operations had become a key issue for voters across the country during the midterm cycle and had played a large part in Minnesota’s election.

At Pretti’s memorial, Arne, a retired physician who worked with Pretti and asked to be identified only by his first name, left his own “I Voted” sticker. “I knew Alex Pretti,” Arne said. “I just knew that he was a competent nurse – a really, really liked guy. And he was assassinated.” Arne appeared to choke up as he spoke about his vote, Pretti and the federal immigration officials who killed him.

Arne described the election as a test of support for the administration’s actions. “The country has humiliated itself by putting in a bad man, a very very bad character,” Arne said of the president. “Today is a chance for America to say whether they support this kind of thing.” If they don’t oppose it, “then fuck America,” he added.

At Good’s memorial, Mike F, who withheld his last name for privacy, left his sticker. “I felt like my vote felt a little bit more in touch with some of the things that happened earlier this year in the city,” he said. “So I felt like it was just the right thing to do – to come pay some respects and attach my vote to what happened here.”

In a primarily Somali neighborhood elsewhere in Minneapolis, the Guardian described Reverend Shandon Klein as a progressive pastor at Park Avenue United Methodist church. Klein said she was “keeping a watchful eye over the polling place just to make sure I’m a non-anxious presence that’s available here and just ensuring that everybody has access to voting.” She added: “There’s a general, just, feeling of empowerment and really excited to get out there to vote.”

For Arne and Mike F, the stickers tied their votes to the federal operation that killed Pretti and Good. As of the Guardian’s report, no federal law-enforcement officials had been spotted near voting sites.